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There's nothing better than eating freshly grilled food outside on a pleasant day.
But finding room for all of your ingredients and grilling utensils, not to mention a food prep area, can be a challenge. |
This grilling station presents a perfect solution: a food prep surface with a removable cutting board, a towel rack handle, wheels for portability, and a shelf for a cooler. There's even a caddy for condiments. |
This project should be built from cedar or redwood: it's pricey, but it's lightweight, water resistant and is a pleasure to cut and sand. Since many of the pieces of lumber need to be the same length, they were cut using a stop block, as described here.
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Assembly begins with the frame for the lower shelf.
The frame is made of cedar 2 x 4s. The long sides are 29" long and the short sides are 13" long. Use a framing square to ensure that
the frame pieces are perpendicular to each other.
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Duct tape will hold the corners in position until they can be screwed together. |
A combination
drill and driver will be useful for this project ,
as it features a lot of countersunk pilot holes, into
which will be driven corrosion-resistant decking screws. |
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| With the four corners fastened, remove the duct tape and drive in the remaining screws. |
With the frame complete, begin attaching the 1 x 4 deck boards. First, drill pilot holes, then drive in weatherproof screws. Do not attach the last plank on either end of the frame just yet. |
Clamp the runners together. Measure 1-1/4" in from one of the ends and bore a
3/4” hole centered on the width, through both runners. |
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| Next, cut a 45-degree miter from the tip of each corner of the end with the hole. |
Sand the corners of this mitered end into a sort of half circle. A tool like this oscillating spindle sander makes this job go a lot quicker. |
Now, sand off the sharp edges. |
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On each of the four leg pieces, miter the corners on one end. The other end should remain square. The two rear legs will have an axle running through them. Drill a 3/8" hole for this axle, one inch from the center of a mitered end.
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On the runner, measure 6-1/2” from the rounded end and draw a perpendicular line; measure 2-1/2” in from the square end and draw a perpendicular line. You’ll use these lines to position the front and back posts.
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Line up the outer edge of the post with the lines you drew on each runner. The square end of the rear posts (with axle holes) will attach to the square end of the runner. Use a framing square to see that these legs are perpendicular to the rails. |
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